athletic women:
Sue Blundell writes in Women in Ancient Greece (Harvard University Press, 1995): “Physical strength was as expected of girls and women as of men, and they had an important place in the training and strength race. Wrestling, javelin throwing, and women learned to tame horses to drive chariots in processions.” Spartan women also participated in the Olympic Games, least of which was chariot racing. Olympic Games.Pausanias, who lived in the second century AD, wrote: "She was very ambitious in terms of winning the Olympic Games, the first woman to breed horses and also the first to achieve an Olympic victory."
Nudity, Food, and Equality:
Professor Paul Christesen from Dartmouth College points out in a paper published in The Handbook of Sports and Methods of View in Greek and Roman Antiquities: “Some ancient Greeks believed that Spartans were the first to undress in training centers and during competition in various sports, while that Spartan women did not engage in any activity of public nudity,” wrote the Greek Thucydides in the fifth century BC: “Spartan men were the first to strip naked in public to anoint themselves with oil after exercising.”
Thucydides also wrote that the Spartans preferred modest dress and that "the richer citizens put themselves on an equal footing with the common people." The poets also showed the desire for equality among the men of Spartans, this desire for a certain level of equality applicable to everything as simple as a bowl Of soup, Alcman says in one of his poems: “I will give you a bowl that has never been set over the fire, but soon it will be filled with soup, the kind that Alcman likes hot, he doesn’t eat sweets because he wants common food like everyone else.”
Sparta kings:
Over time, Sparta developed a dual system of government (two kings ruling at the same time) power was controlled by an elected council of judges that lasted only one year, and there was a council of chiefs over the age of 60 to serve the rest of his life in this position as was made available The General Assembly representing all citizens has the right to vote on legislation.
The mythical lawgiver Lycurgus is often cited in ancient references as having provided the foundations of Spartan law, however Kennell notes that he may not have existed, i.e., that he is in fact a mythical figure.
The war with the Persians:
In the beginning, the Spartans hesitated regarding the friction with Persia, when the Persians threatened the Greek cities in Ionia on the western coasts of what is today Turkey. The people of these cities sent a messenger to Sparta to seek help. The Spartans refused to help but sent a warning to King Cyrus that Leave the Greek cities alone, did not deter the Persians, and the first invasion led by Darius I in 492 BC was repelled by the forces of Athens in the Battle of Marathon in 490 BC, and the second invasion led by Xerxes in 480 BC where The Persians crossed the Hellespont (the strait between the Aegean and the Black Sea) towards the south and gained allies along the way.
The Greek King Leonidas became the head of an anti-Persian alliance with Sparta. The events began in Thermopylae, by the coast, which contained a strait where the Greeks stood to block the advance of Xerxes and Tishre. Ancient sources indicate that Leonidas began the battle with a few thousand soldiers (including 300 Spartans) facing a force Persians outnumber them.
After spying on the Spartans to find out if they would surrender, Xerxes ordered the attack, Herodotus wrote: "Medes rushed forward and advanced against the Greeks, but huge numbers of his army fell, so that the others took the places of the dead anyway, and though they suffered heavy losses, and it became clear to everyone, especially For the king, despite the large number of his army, few of them are true warriors, yet the struggle continued throughout the day.” After this striking force withdrew, Xerxes sent an elite of his fighters known as (the Immortals) towards the Spartans, but they also failed, and Herodotus indicated the battle tactic he used The Spartans: "The Spartans turned their backs as if they were all falling, and allowed the barbarians to attack in the most noisy and noisy way, and then returned the round, turned and faced their enemy, and in this way they were able to crush large numbers of the enemy's army."Eventually, a Greek man offered Rzexes a route that allowed a section of the Persian force to outmaneuver the Greeks and attack them from the flanks, dooming Leonidas to failure and most of the forces he commanded retreated "mostly because the Spartan king so commanded", according to Herodotus.
The Persians killed nearly all of the Spartan forces with their slaves and advanced towards Athens in the south and stormed the Peloponnese. This superiority led to a Greek naval victory at the Battle of Salamis. Xerxes returned to his homeland, leaving behind an army that was later wiped out by the remaining Greeks who They were under the command of Leonidas before he died.
Peloponnesian War:
After the threat of the Persians receded, the Greeks returned to the conflict among themselves, and tension escalated between Sparta and Athens as the largest and most powerful two cities in the decades that followed their victory over the Persians.
In 465/464 BC Sparta was struck by strong earthquakes, the slaves took advantage of the situation and revolted, and the situation was so critical that the Spartans were sent to seek help from their allies to calm matters.
The Battle of Tanagra led to a period of conflict between the two cities that lasted for more than 50 years, and it seemed that Athens had the advantage, as in the Battle of Sphacteria in 425 BC after 120 Spartans suddenly surrendered.
There are times when Athens was in trouble as in the year 430 BC when the men behind the city walls fell ill during a Spartan attack and killed many people including leaders and chiefs and some guesses say that this disease is an ancient version of the Ebola virus.
The conflict between Sparta and Athens was resolved at sea, where the situation changed after a man named Lysander received command of the Spartan naval forces and sought Persian financial support to help build the Spartan naval fleet, and after obtaining support Lysander built his fleet and trained his sailors, and in 405 BC clashed with the Athenian fleet at Aegospotami, on the Hellespont, where he caught them by surprise and achieved a decisive victory, cutting off the grain supply from Crimea to Athens, forcing her to sign a treaty under the terms of Sparta, forcing Athens to demolish its walls and restrict activity to Attica, as Lysander ordered It was ruled by a body of 30 men called the Thirty Tyrants.
The Spartans at this point were at the peak of their power.
fall from power:
Shortly after their victory, the Spartans turned against the Persians and launched an indecisive campaign towards Turkey. In subsequent decades they had to fight on several fronts. In 385 BC they faced the Mantineans and used the floods to enter their city. Xenophon wrote: “The lower stones sank No longer able to carry, the walls began to crack and then open the way; the city was forced to surrender under this unconventional attack.
The dominance of Spartans faced more challenges. In 378 BC, Athens formed the second naval confederation, the group that finally challenged the dominance of Spartans at sea. However, the fall of Sparta came through another city called Thebes.
At the time of King Agesilaus II, relations between the two cities became increasingly strained, and in 371 BC a pivotal battle took place at Leuctra, Lyndon writes: "Their power was smashed by Thebes on the battlefield at Leuctra, though they were allies during the long Peloponnesian War, but Thebes turned to the resistance after the wrath of Spartans came upon them after the victory.
He points out here that after the peace agreement with Athens in 371 BC, Sparta turned its attention to Thebes.
The ranks of the Spartans were confused and the massacre began, the leaders were killed one by one during the battle, and out of the 700 Spartans 400 were killed.
The Thebans marched south and gained support from the local communities as they marched and liberated those lands, depriving the Spartans of many of their labors, and Sparta never recovered from the loss of Spartan life and the number of slaves. Her reign again.”
Later date:
In the following centuries, Sparta found itself (in its weakened state) under the influence of various powers including Macedonia (led by Alexander the Great), the Achaean League or the confederation of Greek cities and later Rome, during this period of decline the city's sons were forced to build a wall around it for the first time.
There were efforts to restore Sparta to its former military might.
Kings Agis IV 244-241 BC and later Cleomenes III 235-221 BC made reforms that canceled debts, redistributed lands and allowed foreigners and non-citizens to belong to Sparta, which expanded the population to 4,000 people. At this stage of renewal, he was forced to bring the city under the control of the Achaeans, and eventually the two Achaians fell to Rome along with the whole of Greece.
Spartans in the Modern Era:
Sparta continued into the Middle Ages and in fact continues today. The modern city of Sparta was built near the ruins of the ancient city and has a population of more than 35,000 people.
The ruins of Sparta may not be as impressive as Athens, Olympia or a number of other Greek cities but the stories of Sparta are still alive, and in modern times watching a movie or video game or studying ancient history makes clear what this legend means.
Professor Paul Christesen from Dartmouth College points out in a paper published in The Handbook of Sports and Methods of View in Greek and Roman Antiquities: “Some ancient Greeks believed that Spartans were the first to undress in training centers and during competition in various sports, while that Spartan women did not engage in any activity of public nudity,” wrote the Greek Thucydides in the fifth century BC: “Spartan men were the first to strip naked in public to anoint themselves with oil after exercising.”
Thucydides also wrote that the Spartans preferred modest dress and that "the richer citizens put themselves on an equal footing with the common people." The poets also showed the desire for equality among the men of Spartans, this desire for a certain level of equality applicable to everything as simple as a bowl Of soup, Alcman says in one of his poems: “I will give you a bowl that has never been set over the fire, but soon it will be filled with soup, the kind that Alcman likes hot, he doesn’t eat sweets because he wants common food like everyone else.”
Sparta kings:
Over time, Sparta developed a dual system of government (two kings ruling at the same time) power was controlled by an elected council of judges that lasted only one year, and there was a council of chiefs over the age of 60 to serve the rest of his life in this position as was made available The General Assembly representing all citizens has the right to vote on legislation.
The mythical lawgiver Lycurgus is often cited in ancient references as having provided the foundations of Spartan law, however Kennell notes that he may not have existed, i.e., that he is in fact a mythical figure.
The war with the Persians:
In the beginning, the Spartans hesitated regarding the friction with Persia, when the Persians threatened the Greek cities in Ionia on the western coasts of what is today Turkey. The people of these cities sent a messenger to Sparta to seek help. The Spartans refused to help but sent a warning to King Cyrus that Leave the Greek cities alone, did not deter the Persians, and the first invasion led by Darius I in 492 BC was repelled by the forces of Athens in the Battle of Marathon in 490 BC, and the second invasion led by Xerxes in 480 BC where The Persians crossed the Hellespont (the strait between the Aegean and the Black Sea) towards the south and gained allies along the way.
The Greek King Leonidas became the head of an anti-Persian alliance with Sparta. The events began in Thermopylae, by the coast, which contained a strait where the Greeks stood to block the advance of Xerxes and Tishre. Ancient sources indicate that Leonidas began the battle with a few thousand soldiers (including 300 Spartans) facing a force Persians outnumber them.
After spying on the Spartans to find out if they would surrender, Xerxes ordered the attack, Herodotus wrote: "Medes rushed forward and advanced against the Greeks, but huge numbers of his army fell, so that the others took the places of the dead anyway, and though they suffered heavy losses, and it became clear to everyone, especially For the king, despite the large number of his army, few of them are true warriors, yet the struggle continued throughout the day.” After this striking force withdrew, Xerxes sent an elite of his fighters known as (the Immortals) towards the Spartans, but they also failed, and Herodotus indicated the battle tactic he used The Spartans: "The Spartans turned their backs as if they were all falling, and allowed the barbarians to attack in the most noisy and noisy way, and then returned the round, turned and faced their enemy, and in this way they were able to crush large numbers of the enemy's army."
Eventually, a Greek man offered Rzexes a route that allowed a section of the Persian force to outmaneuver the Greeks and attack them from the flanks, dooming Leonidas to failure and most of the forces he commanded retreated "mostly because the Spartan king so commanded", according to Herodotus.
The Persians killed nearly all of the Spartan forces with their slaves and advanced towards Athens in the south and stormed the Peloponnese. This superiority led to a Greek naval victory at the Battle of Salamis. Xerxes returned to his homeland, leaving behind an army that was later wiped out by the remaining Greeks who They were under the command of Leonidas before he died.
Peloponnesian War:
After the threat of the Persians receded, the Greeks returned to the conflict among themselves, and tension escalated between Sparta and Athens as the largest and most powerful two cities in the decades that followed their victory over the Persians.
In 465/464 BC Sparta was struck by strong earthquakes, the slaves took advantage of the situation and revolted, and the situation was so critical that the Spartans were sent to seek help from their allies to calm matters.
The Battle of Tanagra led to a period of conflict between the two cities that lasted for more than 50 years, and it seemed that Athens had the advantage, as in the Battle of Sphacteria in 425 BC after 120 Spartans suddenly surrendered.
There are times when Athens was in trouble as in the year 430 BC when the men behind the city walls fell ill during a Spartan attack and killed many people including leaders and chiefs and some guesses say that this disease is an ancient version of the Ebola virus.
The conflict between Sparta and Athens was resolved at sea, where the situation changed after a man named Lysander received command of the Spartan naval forces and sought Persian financial support to help build the Spartan naval fleet, and after obtaining support Lysander built his fleet and trained his sailors, and in 405 BC clashed with the Athenian fleet at Aegospotami, on the Hellespont, where he caught them by surprise and achieved a decisive victory, cutting off the grain supply from Crimea to Athens, forcing her to sign a treaty under the terms of Sparta, forcing Athens to demolish its walls and restrict activity to Attica, as Lysander ordered It was ruled by a body of 30 men called the Thirty Tyrants.
The Spartans at this point were at the peak of their power.
fall from power:
Shortly after their victory, the Spartans turned against the Persians and launched an indecisive campaign towards Turkey. In subsequent decades they had to fight on several fronts. In 385 BC they faced the Mantineans and used the floods to enter their city. Xenophon wrote: “The lower stones sank No longer able to carry, the walls began to crack and then open the way; the city was forced to surrender under this unconventional attack.
The dominance of Spartans faced more challenges. In 378 BC, Athens formed the second naval confederation, the group that finally challenged the dominance of Spartans at sea. However, the fall of Sparta came through another city called Thebes.
At the time of King Agesilaus II, relations between the two cities became increasingly strained, and in 371 BC a pivotal battle took place at Leuctra, Lyndon writes: "Their power was smashed by Thebes on the battlefield at Leuctra, though they were allies during the long Peloponnesian War, but Thebes turned to the resistance after the wrath of Spartans came upon them after the victory.
He points out here that after the peace agreement with Athens in 371 BC, Sparta turned its attention to Thebes.
The ranks of the Spartans were confused and the massacre began, the leaders were killed one by one during the battle, and out of the 700 Spartans 400 were killed.
The Thebans marched south and gained support from the local communities as they marched and liberated those lands, depriving the Spartans of many of their labors, and Sparta never recovered from the loss of Spartan life and the number of slaves. Her reign again.”
Later date:
In the following centuries, Sparta found itself (in its weakened state) under the influence of various powers including Macedonia (led by Alexander the Great), the Achaean League or the confederation of Greek cities and later Rome, during this period of decline the city's sons were forced to build a wall around it for the first time.
There were efforts to restore Sparta to its former military might.
Kings Agis IV 244-241 BC and later Cleomenes III 235-221 BC made reforms that canceled debts, redistributed lands and allowed foreigners and non-citizens to belong to Sparta, which expanded the population to 4,000 people. At this stage of renewal, he was forced to bring the city under the control of the Achaeans, and eventually the two Achaians fell to Rome along with the whole of Greece.
Spartans in the Modern Era:
Sparta continued into the Middle Ages and in fact continues today. The modern city of Sparta was built near the ruins of the ancient city and has a population of more than 35,000 people.
The ruins of Sparta may not be as impressive as Athens, Olympia or a number of other Greek cities but the stories of Sparta are still alive, and in modern times watching a movie or video game or studying ancient history makes clear what this legend means.
